Design of Variable Ratio for Automotive Steer-by-wire Systems

Abstract: The evolution of electronics in the vehicle industry has introduced the possibility for more X-by-wire systems in future vehicles. However, the use of steer-by-wire systems has not yet been widelyimplemented. This opens up an opportunity to explore strategies around the potential use of such asystem.The purpose of the project was to evaluate how to design a variable steering ratio which would give asuitable ratio in all speeds. This would, in turn, make it possible to reduce the need for large steeringwheel angles. Additionally, steering wheel designs which can be implemented with a steer-by-wiresystems are discussed and what possibilities there are to move certain interfaces to the steering wheel.The evaluation process consisted of driving a real car with a constant steering ratio in normal trafficand later modelling a variable steering ratio and testing it in a simulator. This was to get data on howlarge steering wheel angles that are needed in different driving scenarios to then be able to design asuitable variable steering ratio. The tests conducted on normal roads in a real car has shown that thedriver utilises the whole steering range (full lock-lock distance) at speeds below 30 km/h and about±10° on the steering wheel at high speeds. The tests conducted in the simulator show that the variablesteering ratio presented in this report decreases the workload on the driver most of all at speeds below30 km/h.The variable steering ratio presented has been compared with a fixed steering ratio in the simulatorand the tests show that the variable steering ratio works similar to the fixed steering ratio in the samescenarios. The variable steering ratio also decreases the need for a steering wheel angle greater than±180°.